After the tragic Boston Marathon Bombing, many commentators are busy in proving that the Islam is not compatible with Western and American values. Last year, Doug Saunders wrote an article, Catholics Then, Muslims Now, in New York Times about nature of such criticism. He writes;
“The view that members of a religious minority are not to be trusted — that they are predisposed to extremism, disloyalty and violence; resist assimilation; reproduce at alarming rates, and are theologically compelled to impose their backward religious laws on their adopted home — is not new. From the 19th century on, distrust, violence and, eventually, immigration restrictions were aimed at waves of Roman Catholic immigrants.”
We can take heart and lesson from the experience of the Catholics and Jews, but unfortunately the bare fact is that we, the Muslims, have not tried hard to assimilate in the American society as the Jews and Catholics did. Both Catholics and Jews are big part of American political and cultural system and they have built hospitals, Museums and renowned Educational institutes to be part of the American Society; on the other hand, either we have excluded ourselves, or we are marginally involved in the American political and social system. Our young youths are paying the price for this.
I think we should pay heed to the sermons by Imam Muhammad Abbasi on Jumma prayer at Rockland Islamic Center, on April 19. 2013. The burden falls on Parents, Islamic Centers, Mosques, and Muslim organizations to re-evaluate the content and methods of teaching. And the content we do not teach- there is a lawful and political system to express one’s opinion, grievances and bring a change, which as a Muslim we have to follow.The present status quo is not fulfilling its obligations. We should have forward-looking leadership, especially young blood with fresh ideas.
I wrote article below, Are we failing our young Muslim Generation?’, about a year ago, and it is still true and very relevant:
* More than 26 PERCENT of Muslim youth report feeling anger; Only 18 percent of the general youth population report he same.
* Only 40 PERCENT are considered “thriving,” which is significantly less than other youth groups.
* 75% said they or someone they know have been discriminated
against. (Zogby Poll)
Although these statistics are alarming, as Dr. Bhana rightly described it, but not surprising.
The young Muslim generation is having hard time in adjusting because they are living in two different cultures, parents‘culture and American culture. They are trying hard to please both sides and for many of them it is creating a conflict, confusion, anger, and sometimes even hopelessness. This is not because of less religious education, which most likely many Muslim organizations will conclude, but due to feeling isolated, feeling of being “different “than other youths and subject of discrimination. Many do not share these feelings and experiences at home because either they do not want to burden their parents or they believe that their parents would not understand them. They keep it bottled up, and for some it becomes unbearable, and they rebel against their own culture and religion.
Our generations have built Islamic Centers in almost every county of USA. It has provided religious, emotional and social support for our generation and a main source of Islamic learning for the young generation. These Islamic Centers provided our generation, to a large extent, similar atmosphere and surroundings as we had back home and we did not feel the need for integration into the American Society. While doing this, we did not foresee the needs of American born young generation.This Islamic Centers focused life, that is tailor-made for the old generation, is neither attractive nor satisfying for the American born and raised young generation. Despite the fact that majority does well in academic studies, but when they compare themselves to other American youths, they come up feeling short because they mostly shy away from other activities and feel isolated.
Our generation failed to integrate into American Society and we are holding back the new generation also. Integration into American Society does not mean one has to sacrifice its culture or religion, but getting involved into many local activities as suggested by Ann Rosenberg in her e-mails (http://www.thinkersforumusablog.org/archives/378 ), and encouraging the young generation to get involved in extracurricular activities with their American friends, is a big step forward. I think having separate Islamic Recreational Activities, as many Islamic Centers are organizing, is further isolating us from the American Society. We should be planning these activities in association with local sports leagues and joining the schools and colleges in such activities.
If above statistics are correct, in spite of the hard work, the methodology as well as religious substance chosen for teaching by the Islamic Centers and Muslim organizations is not working in any aspect. Most of the Islamic Centers and Muslim organizations are spending lot of their energies on arguments and fights over Islamic Rituals (veil, halal meat, separation of men and women etc) and not focusing on real issues facing the Muslims in general and the young Muslim generation in particular. These rituals have become a litmus test for being a “Good Muslim “ and is driving away many people especially young generation. Despite the fact that many American Islamic Scholars and Imams are available in USA, still speakers and Imams in many Islamic centers are brought from back home. This may satisfy nostalgia of old generation, but these Imams and speakers do not connect with American born and raised younger generation. We have neither encouraged the young generation to get involved in leadership role of the Islamic Institutions nor have we created an atmosphere in these centers that will attract them. There is no new blood with fresh ideas in the leadership of Islamic Centers and Islamic organizations. The old guards neither have prepared the new leadership with new ideas, nor are they willing to hand over the power.
Few years back, Prof. Abou El Fadle, Professor of Law at UCLA and Islamic Scholar, wrote in one of his letter to CAIR regarding Muslim leadership:
“My experience is that most Muslim organizations do not have the ability to benefit from and adequately utilize their human resources; they are unable or unwilling to incorporate a dynamic process of intellectual regeneration. For example, the same individuals who have existed at the helm of leadership when I came to the USA in 1982, are the same fellows who continue to dominate the Muslim reality today. What is interesting is that these individuals do not seem to have developed intellectually, or even linguistically, in more than twenty years. I find them still relying on the same ideas, and using the same language, that they utilized over twenty years ago without development or regeneration. Even worse, I find that their grip on power is such that they muffle and suffocate the emergence of any fresh intellects, original ideas, or the incorporation of diverse experiences. Whether we are from the Arab or Indo-Pakistan world, it seems to me that despite the façade of democratic processes that we have learned to master in our home cultures, despotic processes and paradigms has become well-ingrained in the very psychology and intellectual fabric of our leadership. Our main organizations, despite the façade of democracy, are still trapped within the mainly despotic paradigms that they imported from back home.”
The above rings true even today. Our generation has done a great job of building the Islamic Centers and Muslim organizations from a scratch. It is long overdue that we bring the young generation in leadership role. They will be able to navigate these difficult times better with fresh and new ideas. Brain storming by the old leadership to resolve these issues will bring back the same recycled ideas with same outcome and above statistics will get even worse.
Fayyaz Sheikh
